Patients engaging with doctors through "concierge medicine" sing the praises of longer visits

For $1,650 a year, Lynn Leong gets to spend two hours detailing her health concerns when she sees her primary care doctor, a stark contrast to the typical 15- to 30-minute office visit.

The 67-year-old part-time teacher is among the roughly 500 members of a concierge medicine practice, comprising a smaller number of patients who pay an annual fee for better access to their physician.

The shift away from traditional volume-based primary care is gaining momentum both locally and nationally as the administrative burdens related to insurance reimbursements and government regulations continue to eat up more of a physician’s time.